DAMAGELAND
by Dragonkyng
Summary: America has fallen. In it's place, a world known as Damageland. And now, one hero will need help crossing the barren world, in order to save her world.
1. Prologue

DAMAGELAND

Prologue

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The world around them was chaos. But right now all she could focus on was the wounded figure in her arms. Her tears fell silently as she wept for him. He gently stroked her face, smiling weakly. "Raven," he begged. "Please, you have to." Raven shook her head. "No." "Raven," he begged. "Please, I can't become one of them." "No," she said more forcefully. "Raven!" "NO! I don't care what happen, I'm not going to kill you Beast Boy." Beast Boy looked at her, the large bite wound in his neck still bleeding. He had at most several minutes of his humanity. Raven cried again, as Beast Boy placed her hand on his chest. "Please, I want to die, while I can still remember your beautiful face.

Raven nodded, and focused her magic on his chest, her powers gripping his heart. In a short blast, the muscle stopped beating, and his body stopped moving. Raven held him closer, and sobbed deeply, as she felt herself being pulled away by her teammates. Shelter was too far important.

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	2. Chapter 1

Damageland:

Chapter 1: The end begins here.

Raven walked down the empty road, aware of the figure following her. He watched her from a distance, fighting with his words. He wanted nothing more than to run to her and grab her and pull her in and tell her he was sorry for everything. To kiss her and hold her. If only for one more time. But he was nervous. The last time he barely got close to her, she nearly freaked out of him. 'Come on,' his inner voice told him. 'Man up. Nothing ventured nothing gained.' Garfield Logan took a deep breath and slowly walked to her.

"Nice night isn't it?" he asked. Raven shrugged her shoulders, and nearly felt her own heart break. "Raven." She turned her head to look at him, trying her best to conceal her pain. "Can we talk?" She turned back away and walked off. "We just did." Garfield ran up and grabbed her hand, Raven using her powers to launch him back. His body hit several trash cans as he fell back. Raven, realizing what she had just done, ran to him. He got up, Raven stopping near him. "I deserved that," he said, peeling trash off of himself. "Garfield," she began. "I'm sorry." Garfield looked at her. "That's nothing," he said, stretching his back. "No, I mean I'm sorry that I'm not what you need. I'm sorry that I'm not the most expressive person in the world. I'm sorry you somehow fell in love with me. I'm sorry that I never seem to return your feelings…"

Garfield silenced her by kissing her deeply. At first Raven went wide eyed, then returned the kiss. "Stop," Garfield said, breaking the kiss. Raven went to pull back, but he held her close. "Stop being sorry for things that I wouldn't change in the least bit." Raven looked deep into his eyes. "Garfield, I'm miss this." She tried her best to hold back tears. "I miss us." Garfield just kissed her. "Me, too. Can we please give us a second chance?" Raven smiled ever so slightly. "I think this is the fourth chance now…" Garfield smiled and kissed her again.

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After nearly several hours of walking through the town, Raven and Garfield ended up at a diner, seeing some of their friends already seated inside. The two walked in, the rest of the Titans turning to see them, holding hands. They smiled to each other, and turned back to their meals. Raven and Garfield went to sit down with them, when all hell broke loose outside.

A loud scream pierced the night, the Titans running outside to see what it was. People were running through the streets, the Titans soon seeing what was the cause of the fear and panic. A horde of zombie-like creatures were running towards them, several already having found innocent people to feast on. "What the hell are those things?" Conner asked. "They're zombies," Garfield responded. Cassie spoke up, "Get real, Zombies are myths." Raven shook her head. "Not these things. They like zombies, but I assure they are very real." Cassie rolled her eyes. "Whatever they are, we have to stop them." Raven agreed, adding, "Just don't let them bite you."

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Excerpt from the Daily Planet, Article "The Life after Undead," By James Olson.

Many people will tell you that zombies are fakes. The product of horror stories, medieval medical shortfalls and plain old human overreaction. But the truth is, Zombies as we see in the sense of most horror are fake, But in recent developments, the world most except that zombies are becoming more and more real. A recent recalled drug made by LexCorp produced bizarre symptoms in the user, including aggression, loss of humanity, and a bit of cannibalism. The effects also were easily transferred by exchange of bodily fluids, including kissing, sexual activity, or bites…

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Conner threw one of the creatures into a car, its body slumping over. Cassie punched of the zombies in the face, causing its neck to break. It fell over dead. Bart ran around a group of them, creating a tornado, the zombies inside being lifted off of the ground. Bart then threw on the breaks, the tornado disappearing, the creatures falling to earth, splattering on the ground. Raven was using her powers to hurl cars and other objects at the beings, unaware of one behind her. "Raven!" Garfield shouted, running towards her. He dove in between her and the creature, which landed on top of him. Before anyone could react, the zombie bit down on his neck, ripping out a large chunk of skin.

Raven watched in horror as blood poured out from the neck wound, the zombie going in for a second bite. Raven felt anger, rage, sorrow, hatred, all building up inside her. She let her powers loose, killing hundreds of the creatures in an instant. The rest ran for the hills, Raven dropping next to Garfield.

The world around them was chaos. But right now all she could focus on was the wounded figure in her arms. Her tears fell silently as she wept for him. He gently stroked her face, smiling weakly. "Raven," he begged. "Please, you have to." Raven shook her head. "No." "Raven," he begged. "Please, I can't become one of them." "No," she said more forcefully. "Raven!" "NO! I don't care what happen, I'm not going to kill you Garfield." Garfield looked at her, the large bite wound in his neck still bleeding. He had at most several minutes of his humanity. Raven cried again, as Garfield placed her hand on his chest. "Please, I want to die, while I can still remember your beautiful face.

Raven nodded, and focused her magic on his chest, her powers gripping his heart. In a short blast, the muscle stopped beating, and his body stopped moving. Raven held him closer, and sobbed deeply, as she felt herself being pulled away by her teammates. Helping those they still could was too far important.

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	3. Chapter 2

DAMAGELAND

O unpleasant for fire torn skies,

For blooded fields of grain,

For The ruins of lives destroyed

Faces frozen in pain!

Damageland! Oh Damageland!

God turned His face from thee,

Death awaits, the only peace

From zone to Damned Zone!

Chapter 2: the long road westward

The sounds of Small children could be heard outside of her room. It was ironic, she thought daily. Here, in this town, the world seemed to go on, unaware of the horrors that lay just outside the walls of the city. Children played and ran through the streets, young lovers found comfort and carnal pleasures in each others arms. Men toiled away at jobs that both were appreciative for and hated at the same time. Their wives stayed home, tending to the house and children, raising them to not fear the world, despite what lay on the other side of the wall. The white washed picket fences of perfect lives, illuminated by the red lights of the seedy ventures, pursued in the name of human freedom. It seemed that, despite what people said of God and these events, America had returned to its status of the Shining City upon a hill, bathed in the glow of Pink Neon. A symbol of Human Decency, and a celebration of everything perverse.

At least, what was left of it.

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Excerpt from the Moscow Times. Article: The rise of Damageland.

Though the origin of the name of Damageland, the moniker given to area consuming over half of the Continental United States, is a mystery, the name is fitting. In the seven years since the infamous Jump City incident, in which the first major attack of "Zombies" was recorded, this section of the world truly had become damaged.

Within the first several months, the American Government set up two large safe zones, in which no Zombie activity was recorded, one on the Pacific Coast, one on the Atlantic. These Zones were contained by large walls, designed to prevent any unauthorized entry. Many people fled to these Zones, many making it. Some though, did not, allowing the space between them to be filled with Zombies, which since have seemed to evolve, leaving at least two known class of creatures…

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She left her small house, hut really, and walked past the group of children playing the yard of a house that reeked of sex. As if in a sick joke, her traveling companion began to hum the national anthem. She rolled her eyes, but the two continued on. Soon, they found themselves nearing their destination, picking up their last two travelers. She knocked on the door, which was opened not a moment later. "Raven!" she screamed, as the red head grabbed her friend. Raven reluctantly returned the hug, as a second woman appeared behind the red head. "Alex," she said, "let her go."

"Okay, Rose," Alex said, turning to the black haired woman behind her. Rose wrapped her arms around Alex, and gently pulled her in close, their noses just touching. Alex gave her partner an "Eskimo Kiss," Rose stealing a short real kiss.

The one male in the group of four was about to speak, when Raven stopped him. "You even think PDA, Conner," she said, turning to him. "And I'll slap so hard, you'll see stars." The clone of Superman stuck his tongue out at his girlfriend of six years, but still pulled her in close for a few seconds. He let her go, Raven trying to hide her blush. She quickly turned and gave him a peck on the cheek, then returned to her normal self. Conner smiled and Raven told the two Sapphic women to break it up. "We have to go, if we're going to have any chance to make it out of the City." The two women agreed and the group of four left, heading for the only exit from the safe zone, and out into Damageland.

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The smell of sand was strong, the lone figure in the desert thought to himself. 'I need to find food soon.' He forced one foot in front of the other, his limbs refusing to work properly. The years in this accursed world known as Damageland had grown on him, his body continuing to smell of decay. 'Food… food.' The desire for food became all consuming, his hunger growing with every shuffled step.

A second figure soon came into sight, a shadowy figure. The first man smiled a wicked smile, and with a roar ran in a grotesque manner to the newly found being in his line of vision. 'FOOD!' The second figure looked up at the Zombie running towards him, and sighed to himself. He reached to his back and grabbed the double barrel shotgun there. His eyes glanced at the words in the metal, engraved into the side of each barrel. "Damageland" was on one side, "Shade" was on the other. He smiled to himself, remembering his moniker. "The Shade" they called him. "Shade the Heartless," the best damn Chaperone to walk the plains of Damageland. As he was still in his thoughts, the zombie got closer and closer. He finally returned his attention to the undead demon running at him. He flipped the shotgun in his hand, so he was holding it by the barrel. He swung it like a baseball bat, smashing the zombie in the head, his neck shattering, his body falling over. The Shade gripped the shotgun tightly and raised it above his head, ready to strike the final blow.

Many believe that once a person is infected by a zombie, they forget who they were, their previous life. But the truth is, as a zombie dies, they remember everything. And as this zombie lay in the dirt, his head ringing, he remembered. His name was Martin Welgberg. He was 45 today. On the day he was infected, he had also lost his daughter and wife, his son running away as he was surrounded by zombies, his fate sealed. He cried as he felt the first zombie's teeth sink into him. The second made him weep. The third, he didn't even feel. He managed to escape the hoard, but couldn't escape the virus in his veins. An hour later, the fever made his heart stop, his brain activity slowing. He had become a zombie.

As Martin returned his gaze upward, he saw the Shade prepared to strike the final blow. As the butt of the barrel hit his skull square in the center, shattering his face, the last thought running through his brain as it was ripped open was "Thank you."

The Shade took a deep breath and stood back up, wiping his gun off, and returning it to the holster on his back. Behind his mask, he sighed. He knelt gently by the dead figure and closed it's right eye, the only still intact. "Be still now my child," he prayed. "Be still and be with God." He gripped the small metal cross around his neck and brought it to where his lips would be on his face, the metal clicking as it touched his mask. After a moment of silence, he stood up and walked off towards his destination.


End file.
